Back to School
by chestnut24
Summary: AU where Josh, Sam, Donna, CJ, Toby and Amy all meet when they start law school together. They each dream of going into government one day, but they have to make it through 1L before they can get there! Over the course of their academic pursuits, their friendships (and relationships) evolve.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Josh_

As he drove past the gates of Harvard once more, Josh had a strange feeling. Instead of being here for his first year of law school, he felt like he was here for his fifth year of college. He was going back to the same apartment, in the same town, wearing the same school crest as he had the last four years of his life. He wondered if it had been a mistake to not take any time off between college and law school. But all the roads that led to his personal fulfillment also led through law school. He had figured, why wait?

He had surprised himself by doing pretty well at Harvard during undergrad. Sure, he'd had to work his ass off, but he graduated with honors. His parents had been so proud.

And Harvard was still the perfect place for law school. With the Kennedy School, where he could take electives, and all the professors with government experience, he knew this would be networking heaven for setting up his career in politics.

Now if only he could survive all the boring required first year classes.

_Sam_

Reclining on the leather sofa his parents had purchased for him, Sam gazed out over his view of the Boston skyline and wondered. Wondered what law school would be like. Wondered if Harvard would inspire both his competitiveness and the anxiety that went with it. The neatly stacked pile of 500 page textbooks were already begging to be opened.

He also wondered what women he might meet. Elizabeth, his second serious girlfriend in college, had broken up with him just two weeks earlier. In their short time as a long distance couple, she had already found a hip D.C. journalist she liked better than him. Sam regretted it, but only because it left him lonely. He'd lost track of the number of relationships he'd allowed to fall apart.

For now, though, his mind was occupied with thoughts of his first cold call and the challenges that awaited him in his case books.

_Donna_

On the bus ride up, Donna had been filled with fear. What if she couldn't do this? What if she failed all her exams or made a dumb comment in class and everyone laughed? What if she ran out of money?

Now that she was in Cambridge, though, she was just trying to find her apartment without getting lost. Her path took her by Harvard and she couldn't help but take a detour through the colonial buildings. She was wrapped up in the beauty, and the prestige, when suddenly there it was. The dreaded law school that had been haunting her stress dreams. She practically turned and ran.

Eventually she found the old house, almost three miles from the school, that she had agreed to rent with two other women starting that fall. She had the smallest bedroom, but it came furnished and she was grateful that she could actually afford it, considering the stunningly high rents in Cambridge.

She collapsed on her new bed, exhausted from the walk and her emotional turmoil.

_CJ_

CJ had already found the house but was out running errands, trying to make sure her life was in order before law school started. After having worked in media consulting for a few years, she was used to chaos and treasured every moment that she got to focus on reorganizing.

She wanted to cook that night, maybe for the two women she was living with. As the tallest woman in the room, she always had trouble making friends (or boyfriends) out of men, and as the smartest woman in the room, she often found other women were very competitive with her. She wanted to start off on the right foot this time and actually make friends.

It was her first time living in Boston and she was already missing the California sun and beach. Wearing a jacket in September felt like an outrage. By the time she made it back to the house with the groceries, her hair was a mess from the wind and she was sweating from carrying everything. But at least she hadn't dropped anything. Yet.

She managed to unlock the door and prepared the best first-impression face she could muster.

_Toby_

Toby was already hiding from everyone and he didn't even know anyone yet. He could already envision the torture of orientation and the first days of class. People trying to be social with strangers, trying to remember each other's names. They'd learn soon enough that he wasn't likely to be outgoing or fun or even a very good friend. They'd leave him alone soon enough.

Toby joked (mostly to himself) that he was born a curmudgeon and he would die one, with very little change in between. He liked his privacy and he was never very social. When he cared about something, he cared about it too passionately and it always scared people away. He wasn't even close with his own family, even though he cared about them deeply.

He hoped law school would be a good escape from gloomy reality. He just wanted to dive in to the books, the writing, the purely academic discussions where his painful inability to make small talk wouldn't be a problem. He wasn't there to make friends, just to build a skill he could make useful. And to show off. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't hoping to be the smartest person in every classroom he walked into.

His very quiet, very empty studio apartment felt perfect that night. A retreat from people before he had even met them.

_Amy_

Chewing gum and sitting in a bookstore's cafe, Amy was reading her favorite book to find comfort in: _The Feminine Mystique_. She wore a short skirt and short hair and blew bubbles that made rude noises when any guy tried to talk to her. Law school started tomorrow and she knew she'd be drowning in the boring drudgery of contracts and torts and other meaningless subjects until she could get through the bleak first year.

Then she was going to be in her element. She had already mapped out every course she really wanted to take. Of course there would be Employment Discrimination, Gender and the Law, and Sexual Freedom and Rights. She was hoping for a seminar on Roe v. Wade, as well, and she thought appellate advocacy could be fun because she liked stripping people of their egos with her quick wit. But the first year would bore her senseless.

As the bookstore finally closed, she strolled back to the old house she had dropped her stuff at earlier and smirked as she considered all the ways she was already planning to terrify the law school men.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

With the entire incoming Harvard Law School class crowded into one auditorium, the conversational buzz was significant. The extroverts were easily distinguished from the introverts.

Josh and Sam sat in the third row from the front, both having been so restless that morning that they arrived much too early. Sam turned to Josh and said, "So, what section are you in?"

Josh replied, "Section 2, what about you?"

Sam's face lit up in excitement which, surprisingly, was not annoyingly over the top. "Me too! What have you heard about Smith and Greenwald as profs?"

The two chatted, relieved to have the initial strain of starting a conversation over with. Josh mentioned he was from Connecticut and Sam mentioned he had been yachting there, which made Josh cough a little to hide his eye roll. Sam asked Josh for tips on good places to eat around Cambridge after learning he had been at Harvard for undergrad. They discussed the pros and cons of each of their living situations (Sam was closer but his rent was twice as high). By the time the speaker started talking, Josh had decided Sam seemed pretty okay.

Meanwhile, CJ, Amy, and Donna sat much further back. The three women had walked over together and were already bonding well, much to CJ's relief. But Amy was talking to somebody on her other side about how she was planning to join the group that provided legal advice to unwed mothers and Donna was sitting on her phone, sighing at her over-attentive mother's texts, which left CJ to twiddle her thumbs. She stole glances at the silent guy next to her, whose scruffy beard and curly hair concealed a very somber expression, and decided starting conversation with him was more of a challenge than she was prepared for. Another minute passed, however, and she turned to him and said, "Hey, um, I'm CJ."

He looked at her for a moment, as if deciding whether to even dignify her with a response, but finally said, "Hey, I'm Toby." They looked at each other for a moment and then CJ realized she was going to have to keep initiating conversation.

"So, uh, what section are you in?"

"Section 3."

"Oh me too! Fun… did you get your textbooks yet?"

Toby rolled his eyes, "Yeah… there goes $900."

CJ grimaced in return. "Can't believe how much these things cost. It would be more manageable if they actually considered handing out some financial aid around here..."

Toby grunted out a laugh, but said nothing more. CJ went back to observing everyone else around her. So many preppy white kids, so few minority kids. So much for the supposedly enormous impact of affirmative action.

Then the speakers started. First the dean gave an address, then a legal writing professor, then a dean of student affairs. A professor spoke on the benefits on the Socratic method and tried to explain that cold calls were not, in fact, an unnecessary form of torture (which nobody seemed to believe). CJ could not stay focused and her mind started to wander. It snapped back in when the financial aid speaker came on. She started listing off the average awards that students received and CJ stole another glance at Toby, who seemed just as bemused by the figures, which seemed to CJ like they must be outright lies.

She decided to be bold and she grabbed her phone and typed in a note "Are these people high or just bad at math?" which she then held out so Toby could see it. Surprised he looked down and then chuckled, briefly making eye contact with her.

When the morning's session was over they all wandered out into the big foyer where mediocre sandwiches were stacked as far as the eye could see.

"Well at least it's free..." Donna muttered under her breath, just loud enough for CJ and Amy to hear. All the tables and chairs were already taken by the first 200 students so they looked around for a quiet place to sit on the floor and CJ saw Toby sitting by himself.

"Hey, let's go sit with him. He was super quiet but not a dick, so that's something. Plus he's in our section Amy," CJ said to them, so they shrugged and followed her.

"Hey Toby, this is Amy and this is Donna, they're my roommates," CJ said, gesturing to each in turn. Toby just nodded at them with a mouth full of turkey sandwich.

The women started chatting about how boring the morning had been and CJ tried to lure Toby into the conversation by saying "Amy's in Section 3 with us Toby. Donna isn't, though, she's stuck in Section 2."

Before Toby could answer a perky voice from just behind Donna announced, "You're in Section 2? So are we!"

Donna turned around to see Sam and Josh sitting just behind them. They scooted around to make some space for them to join, and Sam and Josh introduced themselves all around. Donna breathed a sigh of relief. It would be so nice to at least have two faces she recognized on the first day of class. Just as they were starting to talk, though, the dean came up and announced loudly that everyone was to return to the auditorium for more orientation.

The six sat together towards the middle of the auditorium (a compromise between Sam's eagerness and Toby's taciturn ways). Sam kept nudging Donna and whispering comments in her ear to make her laugh, which she tried to cover with limited success. CJ and Toby exchanged some snarky comments about the professors' wardrobes and the mind numbing content. Amy and Josh sat silent in the middle.

When the first day of orientation was over they split up, going back to their places. On the walk home, Amy remarked with a wry smile, "Well you two seem to have made out well with the boys today..."

Donna looked shocked and blushed without responding. CJ just shrugged and said "Eh, Toby doesn't seem like my type. Or like I'm his type. But I'm crap at knowing those things so maybe?"

Donna spoke up then, saying, "I don't know, I don't think I'm going to have time to worry about boys. I'm still trying to figure out the basic terminology all these people keep using. Why is the first year called 1L? Why are we in sections with the same people for the whole first year? Why ON EARTH are the books so expensive? And what is _stare decisis_?"

Amy and CJ patted her on the back as they walked in their front door.

**Please let me know if any of the law school jargon doesn't get explained well enough!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Donna was sweating. She'd picked a seat, brought her textbook, taken her computer out to take notes on, and she was panicking. Class had never seemed so scary to her, but the jump from University of Minnesota as an English major to Harvard Law School was a major one. Even with a couple of years of work experience she felt completely out of place in this world. She didn't even notice Sam walk in until he sat down next to her.

"Hey! How are you? I see you survived the rest of orientation," he said cheerily.

She turned in surprise, but smiled upon recognizing him. "Oh, hey, yeah I did. Barely, but I made it through."

"I can already tell from the first day's reading that I'm not going to love torts. Contracts and civil procedure will be fine, but torts just isn't going to be my subject," Sam sighed, as he opened up the torts textbook.

"I mean… I'm not even sure I know what a tort is after the first reading..." Donna admitted sheepishly.

"Oh I don't think anyone does and from what I've heard of this professor he's not going to attempt to make it any clearer," Sam joked. Donna breathed a sigh of relief. Sam seemed like he belonged here, looked like he fit in, and sounded confident. So if he didn't understand the reading maybe she wouldn't be as alone as she thought.

Josh slipped into the seat next to Sam and waved hello to both of them. "Hey guys."

"Hey, Josh. We were just talking about how the reading utterly failed to make clear what a tort actually is," Sam said, filling him in.

"Oh, well… I mean..." Josh flipped through his notebook quickly, which already had almost ten pages of handwritten notes. "It's a 'wrongful act or an infringement of a right other than under a contract leading to civil legal liability.'"

Donna's eyes grew wide. Was this what everyone else was going to be like? Was Sam an outlier? But Sam just laughed and said "Way to outwork literally everyone else in this classroom dude. What, did you google every word you didn't know in the reading?"

Josh blushed a little and shrugged but admitted "I mean, yeah. What else were you going to do? I wouldn't have understood half of it if I didn't do that."

Sam looked over at Donna and chuckled, saying, "Well Donna, looks like we've got our first gunner." She looked at him quizzically, so he explained, "you know, the person who raises their hand for every question and who studies fourteen times as hard as everyone else."

"Heyyyyy" Josh protested, but not too hard because he knew it was likely to be a fair assessment of his classroom personality.

And then class started. Professor Simon began by introducing himself, describing his passion for medical malpractice cases, and then diving straight into the material.

"We'll begin with the case on the car accident and negligence. Ms. Moss?"

Donna froze. She had been afraid of this but didn't really think it would happen. Timidly she raised her hand and said "Here professor."

"Ms. Moss could you explain to the class the facts here?"

"Oh. Well. Sure. Um. A woman was driving a car and had an epileptic seizure and crashed into a store."

"Could you elaborate on that? More facts please, everything that was particularly relevant to the outcome," he responded.

"Oh, yeah I mean she knew she had epilepsy. Um, I guess also she drove most days. The shop was a flower shop."

"And you think the kind of shop was relevant to the outcome?"

"Oh, no, I mean I guess not. No."

"What happened _after _she hit the shop Ms. Moss?"

"Well I assume she went to the hospital."

"It's very sweet that you're focused on the humanitarian aspects here Ms. Moss but this is a legal exercise. What happened next legally?"

"I mean, the shop owners sued. Is that what you mean?"

"Yes that is precisely what I mean Ms. Moss. Never forget that some of the most basic facts, like who filed suit, can be critically important to the procedural posture of the case. Now, what was the holding of the court in this case?"

"Well, I think what the court said was basically that you can't always blame people driving cars when they cause accidents. Like sometimes they make a mistake that isn't something you can sue them for."

The professor considered this response. "I suppose that is indeed roughly what the court says. In your view, Ms. Moss, what do you think this court thinks negligence means?"

Donna breathed out nervously. At this point she was shaking from the strain of controlling her fear. "Well… I think the court means that there are some things that people do that no matter how careful they are, if an accident happens they are liable. But for negligence, it means that if you're really careful and an accident still occurs then you can't be sued for that."

"Yes, I think that's a reasonable summary. Thank you Ms. Moss."  
And with that Professor Simon moved on to the next cold call victim and the next case. Donna basically could not focus for the rest of class as she was caught, reliving each moment of the cold call and trying to evaluate how poorly she had done. By the end of class she had convinced herself that everyone thought she was a moron and she was hopelessly behind. But class ended and Sam turned to her and said "WOW Donna, you totally did great. Like, you remembered those facts so much better than I did, I would have been flipping through the textbook trying to figure out what he was talking about. Maybe I need to take up Josh's note-taking strategy..."

Josh also looked over at her and smiled, indicating his agreement with Sam's assessment of her cold call. A couple other students also congratulated her for surviving the first cold call of their section and Donna practically ran out so she could call her mother and explain what had happened.

In Section 3, meanwhile, Amy and CJ were sitting together. They both had Facebook pulled up and were chatting over messenger while their contracts professor gave the most long-winded and self-aggrandizing introduction ever.

"MEN, why is this always their strategy..." Amy typed.

"He's so old he's too deaf to hear anything we might say back so he has to lecture straight through the whole time with no questions," CJ suggested back.

"Maybe he'll just read the whole textbook to us and we won't even have to do any reading ourselves."

"If ONLY," CJ answered, before glancing over to where Toby was sitting in the back row, closest to the door. He was leaning back with his arms crossed, looking disdainfully at the professor. But he also looked tired, the bags under his eyes indicating he had been struggling to sleep. He also had his computer up in front of him, so CJ took a stab at friending him on Facebook. She saw his eyes flicker down and his eyebrows quirk in surprise. He considered for a moment and then hit accept, seeing no reason not to.

She quickly typed out a message to him, saying "thought you might have some particularly entertaining comments in response to this… monologue."

Without a change in facial expression, Toby responded, "Monologue? I think you mean a full length play with only one particularly egotistical character."

CJ grinned and made eye contact with Toby across the room. He returned the smallest of smiles but it was still the the least depressed-looking that CJ had seen him. Amy noticed all of this and waggled an eyebrow at CJ but said nothing.

Class finally ended, although Amy and CJ agreed that it felt like five hours had passed. They met up with Donna and headed across the street for a quick lunch before it was time for more classes. Donna relived the terrifying cold-call for them, minute by minute, while CJ and Amy reassured her that she had done fantastic and had every reason to be proud.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

CJ was exhausted after only the first week of classes. She had managed to keep up with the 75 pages per week for each of her four classes, but by the end of Thursday afternoon she decided she needed to provide her brain with the opportunity to shut down. As she was leaving civil procedure, she spotted Toby and asked, "Hey, are you going to bar review tonight?" He shrugged noncommittally in response. "Come on Toby, it'll be fun. We've had a long first week. You deserve a beer or two at the very least."

Toby was surprised to face even this much pressure to go to the class-wide drinking event which would apparently become a weekly tradition. He hadn't been planning on going, but he had started to mildly enjoy his interactions with CJ, and he didn't have anything else to do. His social anxiety spiked at the idea of having to go to the event by himself, but when CJ mentioned that there would be a pregame at her house, he finally caved.

Donna had taken care of inviting Sam and Josh, who she sat next to in almost every class. Amy had found a few other women who had all met at a pro-choice club. All told about fifteen people were going to crowd into the living room of the old house they were sharing. After class the three went to the liquor store to stock up, Donna picking the wine, CJ picking the beer, and Amy picking the whiskey and vodka. They laughed at how much they were carrying and ignored the amused looks of everyone on the street as they carried it home without a bag. With all the cleaning and organizing to be done, it felt like only a few minutes later that everyone showed up at their door.

Sam and Josh had brought a few other guys along with them, and Sam gave Donna a big hug before grabbing two beers from the fridge for him and Josh. Amy's friends showed up, and finally Toby arrived, slinking through the door almost silently but not evading CJ's notice.

"Hey Toby! What'll it be?" she called as soon as he was in hearing range, and gestured to the bottles in front of her. She had taken up unofficial status as bartender.

He shuffled up to the other side of the kitchen counter from her and said, "Well… what's your fanciest cocktail this evening bartender?"

CJ smirked and said, "Well… I think we can do a vodka and orange juice… or actually wait…." She ran off to the fridge and a piece of counter Toby couldn't see. He fidgeted with the hem of his sweater until she came back and proudly presented him with a red plastic cup. "A Moscow Mule! Scavenged from the dregs of our kitchen just for you." Toby took a sip and nodded approvingly.

Twenty minutes later Amy had cornered Toby into talking about whether he thought their civil procedure professor was sexist by calling on only men in class or if women were just too socialized not to be bold and forward so they didn't raise their hands. Josh and CJ were chatting by the fridge about CJ's job before law school and what Josh had thought about Harvard for undergrad. Donna was two drinks in and, since she was a true lightweight, she was already leaning against Sam on the couch, trying to stay awake. He didn't look like he minded too much. Most of the other law students drifted out at some point, headed for bars, until it was just the six of them sitting around on the couches, talking. For a moment, CJ had a sense that perhaps law school wasn't going to be so bad for her and friendships after all.

A little after midnight they all headed out to the bar that had been designated for that week's bar review. By the time they arrived it was absolutely packed to the point where it was hard to get to the bar at all, never mind actually get a drink from the bartender. Donna didn't seem to mind, she just had a glass of water because she knew, and everyone around her knew, that after four drinks she was in no condition to drink any more. CJ decided to put her height to use, took everyone's drink order, and then walked up to the bar and caught the bartender's attention over everyone else's heads.

They were packed in around one little table, other drunken bodies crashing into them. Around them, semi-strangers tried to engage in the level of stimulating conversation you can have when you're halfway to blackout drunk. The air was humid from all the body heat.

Amy raised her glass when CJ arrived back with the drinks and said, "Here's to surviving the first week… may we survive the next one too," and they all took a long sip of their drinks. Donna and Amy realized there was actually a small dance floor tucked in the back corner of the bar and they dragged the reluctant Sam and Josh with them. CJ and Toby adamantly refused to go, so they stayed at the table, leaning against it and chatting. With two and a half drinks in him, Toby had begun to relax a little. "They really aren't kidding about lawyers and alcohol are they?" he said to her. CJ looked around and responded, "And they also aren't kidding about lawyers and sex," pointing to a couple making out against a wall who were both in their section and had never said a word to each other before tonight. They continued people watching, laughing with little ill-will at the drunkenness of their classmates.

Out on the dance floor, Amy had pulled Josh into a circle of women she knew and he didn't object. Sam, on the other hand, was watching out for Donna who seemed to be having a little trouble keeping her balance. Eventually she was just holding on to him, swaying to the rhythm. Sam knew how stressed she had been all week about class and he could tell how much Harvard scared her so he wasn't judging her desire to get quite drunk on their first night of freedom.

When the night was finally wrapping up, CJ pulled Toby into a big, tipsy hug and said she was really glad he had come. Josh stepped out into the cool night air and stretched his arms out wide, looking forward to the long walk home. Amy came up to CJ and asked, "Where's Donna?"

"Oh, she found me on her way out. She looked like she was okay, definitely had sobered up a bit, but she headed home early… and not alone," CJ said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Amy smirked and then linked arms with CJ as they walked home.

The next morning, Donna awoke in a bed. A large bed, much more comfortable than the one she actually had. She opened her eyes and realized everything around her was much nicer than anything she had in her apartment. After a quick check under the covers, she ascertained she was still wearing all her clothes from the night before and breathed a sigh of relief. She tiptoed out of the strange bedroom, trying to figure out where she was, until she saw the peacefully slumbering figure of Sam on the couch under a big blanket.

"Shit..." Donna said under her breath, trying to remember how she had gotten there. She did remember dancing with Sam, remembered leaving before CJ and Amy. She thought Sam had convinced her that his place was much closer and she didn't need to walk all the way home, and she hadn't thought twice about it.

Just then Sam woke up. "Hey Donna! How are you feeling? I've got some ibuprofen if you need it," he told her as he stretched his arms and legs out.

"Oh hey Sam… thanks, I think I'm ok. Did we, uh, did anything happen last night?" she asked warily.

Sam looked at her with mild amusement. "Donna. You were so sleepy it was all I could do to get you up the stairs. I just didn't want you walking all the way home last night when you were that exhausted. Of course nothing happened!"

Donna frowned slightly at that last statement, feeling slightly rejected by somebody she hadn't even really been trying to attract. "Oh no, I just mean you weren't in any shape to actually want to do anything… not that I… I mean I wouldn't not be interested… oh you know what I mean, just that you were too out of it for anything to happen," he stammered and looked away.

Donna nodded, smiling slightly and surprised to find herself relieved by the answer. "Thanks Sam, you're probably right, I would have fallen asleep in a gutter halfway home because it looked so comfy. Want to get some breakfast?"

Sam looked back at her and nodded, happy to brush away the awkwardness. She and Sam got breakfast, which Donna prolonged as long as possible because she dreaded having to go home and explain herself to her roommates.

* * *

**Let me know if you guys want to see how any two characters in particular interact. I want to try and show the unique relationships between all these characters before the end!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It felt to everyone as if school had just started and that first bar review had been only a week ago, but in the grind of trying to keep on top of reading and turning in legal writing assignments, a month had already passed.

One day, Josh got an email inviting him to a networking event for students interested in government careers. Alumni who currently worked in various levels and branches of government would be around to mingle with students who were interested in government careers after law school, and all were to be supplied with plenty of alcohol and a small number of appetizers. He plugged it into his calendar without needing to think twice, already strategizing about how he would mingle and perfecting his elevator pitch. When Sam showed him the same email in class, Josh smiled, glad he'd have a wing man around, even if meeting potential future employers wasn't the traditional use for a wing man.

When the night came, he and Sam were dressed in khakis, blazers, and ties (the official uniform of the preppy professional). Sam's tie was a bright orange, a legacy of his Princeton days, while Josh went for a traditional navy blue. As soon as they entered the room, Josh realized how outnumbered the few scattered alumni were by the crowd of almost fifty students. He had forgotten that almost everyone would work a government or non-profit job the first summer after 1L year, since law firms don't hire interns with that little experience, so the room was packed with people who had immediate, rather than long-term interest in government jobs. He sighed, a little disappointed.

Sam waved to CJ, Donna, and Amy who were all standing around a small cocktail table, trying to flag down a waiter with a silver tray who was carrying pigs in blankets and finger sandwiches. They each had a glass of wine, although Donna had opted for white and CJ and Amy had opted for red. Donna had dressed in a simple but professional gray dress, which fit her well but didn't cling to her, and a pair of black flats. CJ had opted for a navy blue skirt and a white button down top, which she was now terrified of sweating through so she had pulled on a dark sweater as well. Amy wore tight fitting slacks that were cropped at the bottom, high red stiletto heels (which she could absolutely walk in), and a matching red top. Just as Josh and Sam walked over, Toby also joined them, wearing a slightly frumpy brown suit and carrying a scotch.

"Hey, you're all here!" Sam cried, always the first to start a conversation or greet a friendly face. They all waved back, and Sam went to get him and Josh drinks while Josh stayed at the table.

"So… do you guys actually want to go into government or are you just here because you're worried about next summer?" Josh asked, displaying little tact, but the group already wasn't too surprised.

CJ glanced around and said, "well, I'd take a private sector job for sure but if the right government job opened up I'd be interested. Something in the White House probably? Or in the legislature? I've liked the public speaking stuff, though, so I don't want to just get trapped in a stuffy room alone, writing memos and briefs."

Amy just rolled her eyes at Josh and said, "Count the agencies that take women's rights and sexism seriously and that's the number of government jobs I'm interested in. EEOC maybe, maybe HHS? But let's face it I'll probably wind up government-adjacent, lobbying for better laws or agency rules, given how few few female cabinet secretaries there are."

Josh smirked at her confidence and ambition, but her answer impressed him because she was so focused.

Donna shrugged and answered, "Look, mostly I need a job after school so I can pay my loans. If it's private sector fine. If it's government fine. It's a trade off you know? And not an easy one. I'd love to do government, maybe clerk for a judge and then litigate civil rights cases at DOJ, but it's a $100,000 salary cut… we'll see."

Finally Josh looked at Toby, who said, "I like writing, and I like politics. Seems likely I'll wind up in government, but honestly I just got dragged here. Does anybody really think I'm a networking kind of guy?" as he glared at CJ. CJ, Donna, and Amy laughed, having gotten used to Toby, and Josh just looked around for Sam and his drink.

Josh spent a decent portion of the evening chatting with alumni, slowly working his way in through the ring of students that surrounded each of the six or seven government employees. He was most interested in the people doing the real politicking: one staffer for a U.S. senator and a White House aide. Only young alums had come back for this, looking to recapture their law school glory, but it gave Josh some insight into what kinds of jobs he might be looking at right after law school. He picked up a few ideas, too, for summer internships that would position him well for those jobs.

Amy, too, went seeking the two female alumni who had come. She was mildly disappointed they worked for obscure agencies, FERC and the CFPB, but she still peppered them with questions about what government life was like for a woman, and was fairly pleased with the answers she got. It made her think a little harder about maybe working in a policy role.

Toby, on the other hand, refused to budge from the table, and CJ let his reticence sway her into doing nothing but standing there as well, slowly sipping her glass of wine. Somehow, Toby enjoyed her presence, and enjoyed the fact that she didn't feel the need to fill every silence. He got the sense she'd be a good listener if a friend ever needed to talk about something. For her part, CJ accepted Toby as a relief from the often intense chatter of Donna and Amy. She enjoyed the bits and pieces of Toby she learned about in their infrequently broken silences that had become a regular feature of her law school experience. She suspected that the comfortableness in the silences indicated a stronger friendship with Toby than even with Donna or Amy.

Donna, meanwhile, chatted with Sam. The awkwardness from the night she had stayed at his apartment had worn off and they had become closer. Donna was oblivious and Sam flirted with everyone, so she just thought he was friendly. Sam, on the other hand, was definitely flirting with Donna, even if he wasn't too serious about it. He kept offering to get her another drink or brushing against her arm as he leaned forward to listen to her. Donna appreciated that he actually listened to her and asked her questions about her own life, rather than waiting for her to spontaneously share things about herself, something she was historically quite bad at.

About halfway through the networking event, CJ and Toby glanced at each other, shrugged, and said to Sam and Donna that they were headed out. "I'm clearly too lazy to be any use here, so I may as well go home to pajamas, you know?" CJ said to Donna as she waved goodbye.

Josh also came over, fifteen minutes later, saying he had talked to everyone interesting so he was headed home to finish his contracts reading. Amy didn't even both coming to say goodbye.

When there were less than half a dozen people left in the room, Donna finally said, "Okay, I think it's time to call it. Time to head home to my textbooks."

Sam gave her an exaggerated frown, indicating that he wanted to keep talking to her, but she only laughed. He grabbed her coat and held it open for her so she could slip her arms in. He also insisted on walking her home, which Donna took to be an outdated act of chivalry, rather than any real concern for her safety given the incredibly safe neighborhoods of Cambridge. At one point, however, he pulled her back from crossing a road when she was about to be hit by a bicyclist who didn't have any lights on. Jokingly, he told her, "I'll just hang on to you, keep you from running into any more of Cambridge's great dangers," but he did keep his arm around her waist. When they finally made it to her front porch, Sam looked down at his shoes, scuffing them along the ground and killing time before he had to leave.

"Well, it was super unnecessary, but thanks for walking with me. Also for saving me from that bike," Donna laughed, and gave him a little shove on the shoulder.

Sam didn't say anything. Instead, on an impulse, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. It had all the awkwardness of a high school first kiss, partly because it caught Donna by surprise. "Was that okay?" Sam asked when he pulled back (although not very far). Donna blinked in surprise and answered, "It was certainly a surprise… but yeah it was… that was fine." Realizing how lame that sounded, and unsure of what she was feeling, she gave him a quick kiss back, but this time on the cheek, and murmured, "Goodnight Sam," before slipping into her house.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Toby grumbled to himself, tying his tie for the fourth time. He liked CJ, she made him laugh, but how the hell did she keep talking him into things like this? Toby from a year ago would have laughed in your face if you told him he'd be going to Barrister's Ball, the law school equivalent of Homecoming dances. "Whatever, CJ will just fix it for me..." he muttered as he headed out the door.

As was becoming tradition, they were all meeting at the girls' house before heading to the dance. It was a formal event, suit and tie required. CJ had made him go and get a new suit because she said the old one made him look about twenty years older than he was. He had to admit, this one did fit a lot better. But when had he started to let her boss him around? He didn't understand why she took such an interest in him but he went along with it.

When he got to the house, he realized he was the last one to arrive. Sam and Amy were debating the ERA in an animated, but not particularly angry way. Amy had again gone with her signature red in a flowy dress that had a plunging neckline and a skirt that went down to her knee. Sam looked dapper in his navy blue suit (as he always did, no matter what he wore). Donna and Josh were chatting about about the case they had read for their torts class on Monday. She wore a light blue dress, with an asymmetrical hem, that brought out her eyes, and Josh wore a gray suit with a black tie and a silver Harvard tie clip. They had established themselves as the workaholics of the group, both too afraid of being out of place or too dumb to pass their first exams, so they were never less than a week ahead in the reading. Everyone else avoided talking about class with them, feeling that their intensity was best kept isolated for everyone's mental health.

Toby saw that CJ was standing alone in the kitchen, dressed in a gorgeous silver dress with straps crisscrossing her back, when he headed in there for a drink. She was staring off into space and holding a glass of whiskey.

"CJ? Is everything alright?" he asked tentatively, concerned by the look on her face.

She looked up at him and managed a broad, but very fake, smile. "Oh hey Toby, did you just get here? Yeah I'm fine."

"I don't believe you," he said patiently.

She paused, deciding whether or not to say anything more or if she should just pretend she needed to go to the bathroom to dodge the rest of the conversation. Finally, she decided Toby was probably the best person to tell anyway and said, "I… our professor gave us our legal writing grades back today. And I got… a C." She stared at the floor and her bare feet.

Toby sighed. He and CJ were in different legal writing sections because their main section split in half for that class. He had gotten an A on his, to his mild surprise, but he knew how important this grade was. It was their first sign of how they were doing in law school, since they had no grades until final exams in all their other classes. For all these type A lunatics who were so used to getting straight A's their whole life, it was a rude awakening for many. He decided not to say anything and just went up and hugged her instead (another uncharacteristic gesture for him).

CJ was surprised, but quickly gave in to his hug, leaning down to rest her chin on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. She was surprised that he was such a good hugger, she couldn't imagine he'd had all that much experience. He let her hang on to him until he felt some of the tension leave her body, and then he pulled back and said, "I know what will make you feel better. I cannot get this stupid tie to sit straight and I absolutely know that you are the woman to fix this problem for me."

CJ grinned at him, a real smile this time, and set to work fixing his tie. He was correct, this was a task she loved to do.

They all wound up at Barristers not long after, a little afraid of reliving their high school prom experiences. Sam had walked in next to Donna and, gesturing around them said in a fake prepubescent voice, "Gee isn't prom great? I just love getting all dressed up!" Donna laughed, but turned away to talk to Amy again. She and Sam hadn't really addressed their kiss yet, and she still wasn't sure what to say. She didn't want to mess up one of her few early law school friendships… but he was cute… Then she decided for the hundredth time that he probably wasn't interested in her at all, that it had just been an impromptu, one-time thing.

Sam turned to Josh and said, "Ugh, I don't know what to do about Donna. We keep pretending everything's fine but something's changed. I mean, obviously I know what's changed, but I just wish we would talk about it."

Josh quirked an eyebrow at him. "YOU are asking ME for advice about women? Dude, you know I'm useless. I can't even get Amy to think of me as anything more than a pathetic nerd, never mind get around to kissing her. What the hell do you think I have to offer you? Except my condolences."

Sam laughed and patted him on the back. "Well, you never know, tonight might be the night you break through with Amy. Show off some of those slick dance moves you got," he joked, knowing full well that Josh's dancing was more of a horror to behold than a pleasure.

Josh had decided not long ago that he was head over heels for Amy. He made this decision like he made all others, with a mixture of rationality and impulsiveness. She was strong, she was funny, she was gorgeous. She was the unattainable kind of girl he could respect and admire but only dream of getting with. Unrequited love had been his relationship of choice for many years now.

Donna and Amy almost immediately ran off to the dance floor and joined up with a group of women they knew. Toby knew CJ wasn't in a great mood so he hung around her protectively, keeping her from feeling lonely and from having to talk to anyone. Josh and Sam got drinks, but then decided to go find Donna and Amy.

An hour later and the whole law school was there, and most of them were drunk. CJ and Toby had been slowly working their way through drink after drink. Sam and Josh had brought drinks to Amy and Donna on the dance floor, but the girls were finally tiring out so they all went back to the table with Toby and CJ. Before they sat down, though, Sam tapped Donna on the shoulder and gestured for her to follow him. They went out to the hallway outside the hotel ballroom where the dance was being held. It was much quieter and they could hear each other without shouting.

"Hey." Sam said. "Hey back" Donna replied.

"So… I wanted to talk about… you know."

"Yeah I figured. It's fine Sam we don't have to make anything of it, we were both a little tipsy."

"Oh no that's not..." Sam trailed off as she looked up at him. Once again they had some alcohol in their systems (a state that seemed almost constant in law school if you ignored all the time spent in class), and he couldn't help but feel drawn in by the look on her face.

"Donna..." he said softly, before brushing a strand of hair back from he face. Then he smiled, saying, "Have I told you that you look gorgeous tonight?"

She smiled and blushed, a little surprised at the direction the conversation was taking. And then Sam leaned in again, almost all the way to her lips, waiting for her to make the decision to kiss him this time. She threw caution to the wind and brought her whole body forward, and pressed against him as their lips made contact. It wasn't just a peck this time, the kiss lasted longer and deepened, until Sam pulled her around a corner to a smaller, empty hallway and pushed her against the wall. His hands moved to her waist and pulled her closer while her hands tangled in his hair.

When Sam and Donna reappeared at the table with the others they looked just slightly more rumpled than they had before, but everyone else was too tipsy to notice. Sam gave Donna's hand a squeeze under the table.

Josh and Amy were talking heatedly about foreign aid policy, but Sam could hear the undertones of flirtation coming from both of them. CJ was leaning heavily against Toby. Sam had the thought that the whole friend group might be pairing up, and he didn't know how to feel about that.

Toby noticed that CJ looked really tired as well as drunk. She had been quiet for a while, not even making rude comments about their classmates, so he figured it was time to get her home. He announced as much to everyone at the table and they waved as he supported her out the door and into a cab.

Half an hour later, Donna nudged Amy and asked if she was ready to go home. It was almost two in the morning at this point and Amy nodded sleepily, barely containing a yawn. Donna wanted to avoid any awkwardness with Sam about whether they would be going home together (she absolutely was not prepared for that, at least not tonight), and making the first move to go home with Amy seemed like an excellent way to head that off. The girls grabbed their coats and, while Josh and Amy weren't looking, Donna snuck a goodnight kiss in with Sam before they headed out, Josh and Sam to their apartments and Donna and Amy to the house.

When they got to the house, they found Toby asleep on the couch in the living room, still fully dressed except for his suit jacket. Upstairs, they found CJ, fully dressed but neatly tucked into bed, snoring with a glass of water beside her. Donna and Amy smiled at each other.

Donna followed Amy into her room down the hall.

"What's up Donna?" she asked, again yawning.

"Sooooo…. Sam. We might have made out in the hallway tonight. Not like that teenage fumbling at the front door the other night, like a good proper make out."

All the tiredness vanished from Amy's face. "Oh my god tell me everything."

"Well, he said he wanted to talk and I assumed he wanted to say it was all a mistake the other night, but he started being flirty and then he leaned in and… well you know. There was a lot of being pushed up against walls and things," she said blushing.

Amy wiggled her eyebrows at Donna. "So, do you actually like him or is this just going to be a booty call thing?"

Donna sighed. "I don't know, this is the part I'm struggling with. Let's face it Sam is super cute and he's sweet and he's smart and he's confident. There's a lot to be attracted to. But I see a couple of problems. For one, we sit next to each other in every class. What if things go badly? Two, I'm not sure… I'm not sure I'd ever be comfortable in the relationship. What does he see in me? I'm too self conscious for him I think, I can't imagine it being particularly emotionally healthy, you know? I think I just don't believe that he could like me."

Amy rolled her eyes and replied, "Donna, you're overthinking. He's cute and you think he's a great person. Also, from what I've seen of Sam I wouldn't worry too much about some horrible breakup or him being awful if you don't want to keep seeing him. I think, sure, there's reasons to think it might not work, but should that really keep you from trying? What if he turns out to be a perfect match for you?"

Donna considered the issue from this perspective. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see where it goes." Amy hugged her and then yawned theatrically, and Donna caught the hint. She said goodnight and went down the hall to her own room and almost instantly fell asleep.

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**I don't know about you guys but I definitely felt like Donna and Sam had good chemistry during the show and I've always been curious about what it would be like if they were together. I haven't plotted the whole story so I'm just kind of letting it take me where it will, so I can't promise whether this is a lasting pairing or not!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"The time to start studying for finals is now!"

Those were the last words of the mandatory assembly for all 1Ls, held the day before Halloween. Toby could sense the panic in every student surrounding him, including in himself. How could it be time to start studying for finals when they were still a month and a half away?

The assembly had told them two things: first, they had to make an extensive study guide (called an outline) in order to study for the test, which they could use on test day for most classes, and second, they needed to form study groups to be able to take practice tests and keep each other on track.

Toby could practically see all the text messages flowing between students as they sent panic stricken texts, trying to verify whether their two month friends in law school respected their intelligence enough to want to be in a study group with them. Toby, at least on that score, really didn't care. He had always prepared for tests by himself in college, he saw no reason to believe this would be any different.

Sam and Josh were chatting, on their way out as well. They had already verified they would be in a study group together. Sam brought the effortless, intuitive grasp of the law while Josh brought the work ethic and the detailed note-taking from the whole semester. Josh, however, was not convinced about Sam's recommendation for other members of the group.

"Look, Sam. I know you like her. I know you guys are unofficially a thing or whatever. But Donna? Really? She never struck me as exactly top of the class..."

Sam sent a harsh glance towards Josh. "Oh and you're so high and mighty? Get a check on your ego Josh, we've gotten basically no grades back so far and we have no sense of how everyone is going to shake out in terms of test-taking ability. Intelligence seems like less than half the battle, and fast typing skills are probably the single most important indicator of likelihood of success academically."

Josh grimaced a little at Sam's words, his feelings slightly hurt. But maybe he had been too harsh about Donna, or at least too blunt. And more importantly, maybe Sam was right about having no idea who would actually be the best at these kinds of tests. "Ok, sorry. Maybe you're right. But you have to admit you're putting me in an awkward situation since you and Donna will make me feel like a third wheel. And what if something happens between you two? That's going to leave me in an awkward position."

Sam gave him more credit for this argument, but responded "Hey, you know it's nothing official between me and Donna. We've been out on a few dates and, you know, had some fun. But it's not like you're going to have an actual breakup. There's nothing to break up yet."

Josh looked at him skeptically, but after a few more minutes of disagreeing Sam eventually convinced Josh. Before the day was out, their three person study group was set.

CJ felt more awkward about it than Sam and Josh because she didn't feel like she had enough confidence to start asking acquaintances to work with her. Everyone seemed to feel like who was in their study group would make or break their entire law school career. CJ, especially after her first legal writing grade, didn't have it in her to try and convince others that she would be a real asset to a study group.

Eventually she approached Amy and Toby. Amy's answer was direct, but inconclusive: "I'm joining multiple groups because I don't know whose work habits are going to best suit me and there's no sense in locking myself down now. I'll definitely come work with you sometimes, but I can't promise I'll be around every time you want to meet." CJ nodded, she had expected answers like that. She was surprised, however, by Toby's response. He frowned for a moment after she asked, then shrugged and agreed. CJ had been sure he would reject her in favor of working by himself. He was, after all, a perfect match to the law school stereotype of the brilliant loner.

Donna had already told CJ and Amy about the fact that she was going to be in a study group with Josh and Sam. They had instantly sensed her nervousness. She was still uncertain about her feelings for Sam. They had gone on a few dates and he seemed perfect. Held doors for her, paid for dinner, made good conversation. But somehow she still felt like something was missing. She couldn't tell if they lacked a connection or if she just hadn't broken down some internal wall of his where she would finally see more to him. Because people aren't perfect, and Sam seemed too close to perfect for her comfort. On the other hand, he was a genuinely good guy and, as Amy and CJ reassured her, even if all hell broke loose between them he would probably still be fine about working together in the study group.

Josh was also a question mark for Donna. Did he like her? Did he just tolerate her? They got along fine when they talked but he always seemed a little on guard around her. She assumed he felt awkward about third-wheeling in their group but he hadn't said anything to her. Plus, she knew that Sam and Josh were two of the smartest students in their section. If they were willing to let her work with them, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Now that finals studying had started, social time became severely restricted. The whole gang started to gather once a week at the girls' house to outline together. They didn't necessarily talk about what they were working on since they weren't in the same section and were working at their own speed. But they were able to take solace in each other's company and prevent each other from going too crazy. As the night dragged on they would get loopier and loopier. One night resulted in a food fight, with Cheetos and pretzels being thrown at each other, leaving the living room in total disarray. Inevitably, Josh and Donna would keep working through those moments, although Donna would glance up from her laptop and smile. Sam and Amy were the most distracted, constantly getting into tangential conversations. But the personalities balanced and kept the panic at bay.

As the calendar days ticked by, finals were rapidly approaching.

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**Sorry this was a short chapter, it was just necessary for set up for the next few chapters.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When the first flurries started falling, they were all still in class. By the time they got out in the early winter night there were already a few inches on the ground.

Donna was in a good mood. After her four years at University of Minnesota, snow brought back fond memories of good times. She picked up some of the light fluffy snow and threw it at Sam as they walked towards the girls' house together.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, but the big grin on his face let her know he wasn't mad.

He hit her with a snowball, or a poorly packed clump of snow, most of which blew away before it reached her and she just laughed at him. He mock pouted and then ran up to her and grabbed her by the waist, twirling her around. Then he pulled her into him, kissing her deeply as the snow came down around them. Donna was swept up in the moment, pressing herself against him, until she realized they were standing on a public street. Blushing, she pulled back, but continued to hold his hand as they continued on.

"Hey, so, my parents are coming to town soon, before finals. Would you… would you want to meet them?" Sam asked, and Donna heard nervousness in his voice for the first time.

She and Sam _still_ weren't official, but they did seem to be exclusive. This seemed like a significantly more serious step. On the other hand, she rarely turned down a free fancy dinner. It couldn't hurt right? That seemed to be her motto with Sam.

"Um, depending on my schedule, sure that sounds lovely," she said, mustering as much sincerity as she could.

Sam beamed and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I really like you Donna," he said simply, and squeezed her a little closer to him momentarily. She just smiled at him.

Meanwhile, Toby and CJ are also leaving the school. They're all headed to the girls' house for their usual study night. CJ somehow managed to miss the news that the first snow storm of the year was rolling into town that night and so she failed to wear shoes with any traction. They hadn't made it two blocks in the steadily falling snow before her feet flew out from under her and she found herself flat on her back on the pavement. She let out a loud "oof!" of surprise.

"Woah CJ, are you ok?" Toby peered down at her with a concerned look and then knelt down to cup the back of her head and hold it off the hard sidewalk.

CJ emitted a number of grumbling and pained noises, but eventually sat up. Toby got up, too, and held out his hand for her, which she took and eventually made it back to her feet. Toby was close to her, brushing snow off her shoulders and back, looking at her with a deeply concerned face. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, forgetting himself enough to brush a strand of hair back from her face.

She nodded, slightly surprised by his close proximity, but not really thinking anything of it. "Stupid shoes," she said, pulling back a little further and rubbing her head.

"Here, I'll make sure you don't fall again," he said, offering his arm to her, which she gratefully took. They took much slower, smaller steps back towards the house. It wasn't until they reached the front porch and Toby pulled back to his normal, stiff and distant external persona that it crossed her mind that maybe Toby liked her. Was that even possible? CJ hadn't thought of him that way but… he had been awfully close. It was the most emotion she'd ever seen Toby show, but then again that wasn't saying much. She brushed the thought from her mind, attributing it to the fact that she hadn't gotten laid in far too long. Sam and Donna were already there, sitting on the couch together, so CJ and Toby joined them to warm up.

Josh and Amy hadn't planned to walk over together, but Josh was leaving office hours almost an hour after classes ended and Amy was strategizing with the pro-choice club about their next demonstration at a pro-life speaker event, so they bumped into each other on the way over.

"Oh, hey, Joshy, how's it going? Haven't frozen any of those precious brain cells of yours?" she said to him, mocking him lightly.

"No, nothing's frozen yet, unlike your heart towards every man you meet," he joked back to her.

Their friendship had taken up a bantering aspect and Josh, being Josh, could never tell what it meant. He was unclear on whether he was flirting, he wasn't sure if she was flirting back. He was taking a wait and see mentality, which probably meant she would have to make the first move if she was interested, which he figured wasn't a problem for Amy.

She reached over and stole the knit hat from his head, pulling it down over her own hair.

He yelped at the cold snow coming down on his already very slightly thinning hair, and grumpily pulled his hood up (he was only faking his grumpiness). She patted his cheek, jokingly consoling him.

Abruptly changing tone, she said, "you know what this weather really puts me in the mood for?"

"What's that?"

"Hot apple cider. Spiked or unspiked," she added, winking at him. His heart skipped a beat at her wink.

"Hmmm that seems like an achievable objective," he replied.

When they were only a block from the house, he grabbed her hand and said, "Come on, I've got an idea."

Amy looked at him curiously but followed, not bothering to let go of his hand until they stopped in front of a grocery store.

"Wait here!" he said with a smile, and five minutes later he was back carrying a bag. When he peeked inside and saw the big gallon jug of apple cider and the cinnamon sticks she smiled and said, "Josh you DO know how to make a girl's dreams come true." He grinned goofily back at her.

When they got into the house they greeted everyone and then made mugs of hot cider in the microwave for everyone, which was met with cheers from CJ and Sam in particular. They all tried to do work, but none of them could, too excited about the snow outside.

When Toby went to the door, always the first one to leave, he remarked, "Wow, there must be like five inches out there."

Without missing a beat, Amy said "SLEEPOVER!"

Sam and Josh laughed, and then realized she was serious. "Come on guys," she said, "it's a snow day, we can all go back to the joy that brought us in high school. There's plenty of room on the couches and air mattresses we've got, don't be shy!"

It didn't take long to convince Josh or Sam, who may have been motivated by the presence of Donna and Amy, but Toby took a bit more coaxing. Eventually CJ just said, "Freeze your butt off if you want, but we'll have pancakes in the morning," and he gave in.

Fortunately, Amy had enough men's clothing left over from the men who had come and gone in her life that she could outfit all three of them with pajamas. They were all a little giddy, feeling like kids. Sam snuck off with Donna to her room for a while, enjoying the feeling of having free time and expecting no classes the next day, which made them feel more relaxed with each other than ever before.

CJ and Toby were very ready for bed and were the first ones to brush their teeth and wave goodnight. Josh and Amy were a bit slower, not anxious to get to bed. They brushed their teeth and she teasingly ruffled his hair, deciding he looked cute in the t-shirt and sweatpants she had found him. She'd never seen him so laid back, he was always doing work and more work. His boyishness was beginning to get to her, as was his ineptness with women. He couldn't charm anyone enough to sweep them off their feet, but he could make them slowly begin to crush on him without even knowing it.

After they had both rinsed out their mouths, she stood in the doorway and said, "So how can I repay you for making me hot cider?" He looked at her, taking in her slightly mischievous expression, unsure where she was going with this. He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could she leaned forward, up on her tiptoes, and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was brief, but not just a peck. She had just started to pull away when Josh, on instinct, pulled her close again and kissed her much more firmly and deeply. When he pulled back she was smiling and said, "I didn't know you had it in you… although I was hoping." Then she winked again and disappeared down the hall to her own room.

Josh stood there, alone, pondering what had just happened before he shook his head and went downstairs to his designated air mattress. Amy's unpredictability only made him think about her more.

The next morning they all had pancakes together. Donna and Sam held hands under the table while they sat next to each other. Josh stole glances at Amy and once or twice caught her eye, making her smirk. And CJ and Toby chowed down on their pancakes, oblivious to the sexual tension around them.

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**So far Josh and Amy are the only show pairing but that's because Aaron Sorkin doesn't exactly fill his stories with romantic tension so I gotta make some stuff up here.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took me a while to update this, life got a little crazy for a while. I'll try to get back on a regular schedule!**

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Chapter 9

The last day of classes for the semester was over. They had all politely clapped for their professors, and mentally geared up for the beginning of finals season. Josh and Donna had already finished the outlines for all their classes, although Josh's were 90 pages and Donna's were only a reasonable 50 pages each. Sam was still only two-thirds of the way through all of them except civil procedure, where he had only finished half.

The night before, Donna had gone to dinner with Sam's parents, just as he had asked her to. She had dressed up in a simple but elegant black dress with a cardigan and tried to look like she belonged with Sam. His parents had been very courteous, asking her about where she came from, what her parents did, what she had studied in undergrad, and what she planned to do with her law degree. Only a few of these questions gave her any amount of embarrassment and Sam kept smiling at her and squeezing her hand under the table.

But then the conversation had turned to whether the Millers ought to buy a new yacht and how much the Simpsons were paying for their third vacation home. His parents also picked apart their dinner, spending more time critiquing the dishes than enjoying them. Donna had fought back a gasp when she saw the menu prices and couldn't imagine doing anything but savoring every bite at those rates. More alarming to Donna, she saw how Sam fit in with this world. He could engage his parents in conversations about the parents of his Princeton classmates and compare the restaurant with his dining experiences in London and Paris. Donna, meanwhile, had never even been out of the country.

She did her best to smile politely and tried to shrug off the Sam she was seeing before her. It's not like he really came off that way when he wasn't around his parents… right? The night left her with an unsettled feeling, so she begged off when Sam asked to come in after walking her home that night, telling him she was tired.

Sam had been staying over several nights a week before that, though. And many of those nights he overlapped with Josh, who often stayed in Amy's room these days. Sam and Donna laughed at the sometimes quiet, sometimes very loud, sounds that could be heard through the wall at night. Sometimes it involved fights about politics and women's issues, sometimes it was mostly groans.

That night when Donna came home, Josh and Amy were already in Amy's room. They were lying in bed together, cuddling in a rare moment of relative peace. His head was resting on her chest and she had her arm around him, stroking his upper back. Amy suddenly asked Josh, as she heard the door to Donna's room close, "What do you think of them?"

"Hmm? Who?" Josh asked, coming back into reality from a mental trip through torts law.

"Them. Sam and Donna."

"Oh, um, I don't know. In some ways it seems like an odd match, in some ways it makes a lot of sense."

Amy looked at him with curiosity, unsure what he meant.

Josh sighed and said, "I mean, okay, for instance. Sam is all confidence and Donna is nothing but self-conscious, about everything. And their backgrounds are pretty different. Like what is Sam going to have in common with Donna's parents, what would they even talk about if she brought him home? On the other hand, though, they're both like… stupidly nice. Like let everyone walk all over them nice. And they have similar senses of humor. Ya know?" He looked up at her, seeking her agreement.

Amy nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Yeah, I guess. She just can't make up her mind about him, and it's been months. I feel like either it's a hell yeah or a nah after that long. You should know by then, shouldn't you?"

Josh shrugged, "Maybe. I mean… do you feel like we're a hell yeah?" He looked away as he asked this.

Amy looked alarmed at this turn of conversation, and he knew the moment she did that the answer was a no. "Well, it's not the same," she said, "We haven't been seeing each other for nearly as long."

Josh just nodded and then, changing the subject, asked, "So when are you starting to study? Are you going to work with CJ and Toby?"

"Like I told them, until we start doing practice tests I won't know who I work best with so I'm still not making any commitments."

Josh made a thoughtful noise, thinking that this was perhaps quite selfish on her part but not saying that out loud.

Amy looked at the clock and sighed. "Ugh, if we want to get seven hours we'd better go to sleep now."

She reached over and turned out the light and rolled over. Josh wrapped his arm around her, spooning her. Amy kept thinking about his question, though. Things with Josh were complicated. It was the first time in a while she'd regularly kept sleeping with somebody. But god he had an ego. And they fought. All the time. She couldn't even quite figure out why she found him so attractive. Eventually she gave up and went to sleep.

Now, after classes ended, Donna, Sam, and Josh grabbed a pizza and headed for a study room. They knew they had to start practice tests for contracts immediately, since the test was only four days away. It was another three days until torts, and then four more after that before civil procedure. Then it would be break and Christmas and also time to apply for internships. Every student was praying that coffee would get them through it all.

Their professor had provided five practice tests for them to work through. For the first one, they just planned to talk through it, instead of writing it all down. But Josh and Donna were determined to get through all five in the three days.

Thirty minutes in and they realized they had as many questions as they had answers. Josh and Donna were buried in their textbook, arguing over how contracts between merchants could be formed when there were different terms on different forms when Sam snapped his textbook shut.

"Guys, I'm not absorbing any of this. If we're going to meet at 9 am to do the next one I need to go home now and chill for a bit before bed. I'll see you tomorrow. Please, dear god, do not stay too much longer."

He kissed the top of Donna's head and dragged himself out the door.

Josh and Donna glanced at each other. "He's a bit, uh, protective of his sleep," Donna explained.

"I wish I could sleep, but as long as we have all these questions there is no way I'll be able to get my mind to slow down."

"Same," she responded, and they smiled ruefully at each other.

An hour later, at 1 am, they finally called it a night, having only one question left and they knew they just needed to email the professor about it.

"I'll walk with you home, my apartment isn't far from your house and it's late," Josh commented as they packed up.

Donna looked up, surprised, but shrugged and said, "Thanks. You aren't staying over with Amy tonight?"

Josh laughed dryly. "Amy's decided that for finals she's going celibate. I'm just surprised it wasn't me who said it first, she seemed like the sort who'd want sex every night when she was stressed."

Donna laughed, and they headed out the door. "So, how nervous are you about the tests?" she asked.

Josh sighed heavily. "I mean, I can type fast. And I'm on top of my shit given that I've finished my outlines. But we don't have any grades, right? How do I know where I am in the class, or how I'm going to do with this crappy curve dictating how we do, not really our own performance?"

Donna nodded silently, staring at her feet as they walked through the cold.

Josh could sense her own insecurities, and felt a need to try and make her feel better. "Hey, you know you're in the same boat as me right? Like, you've finished your outlines and you're super prepared. Donna I'm not worried about you at all, so don't you worry more than me."

Donna laughed at his clumsy attempt at a compliment, where his own ego was just as obvious as his good heart.

"Yeah, but Josh you went to Harvard. You're used to this pressure and this competition. I'm not. Minnesota was nothing like this."

"You don't think I felt that way when I first got to Harvard? I came out of a solidly mediocre Connecticut public high school and thought I was going to fail every class at Harvard since I was up against all these fancy, rich, private school kids. But I didn't, because I worked hard. That's it. You've got to trust the admission people figured out that you were smart. And I don't know, in my experience, even the brilliant people don't do well in classes where they don't try. You can catch up in terms of educational background if you just put in the effort, and you obviously are."

They had reached her front door and she threw her arms around Josh and, with just a small catch in her voice said, "Thanks. I… needed that." Before he could even hug her back she pulled back and said "See you tomorrow at 9!" and disappeared through the door.

Josh turned away, going over the night in his head. Donna surprised him sometimes. She had held her own tonight, going toe to toe with him in battles over the meaning of particular case holdings. And she hadn't just left when Sam had. She was taking law school more seriously, and even if it was her insecurity driving her to work this hard, he couldn't deny that to some degree, beneath his ego, his insecurity drove him, too. Perhaps they had more in common than he thought.


End file.
